There is that moment in July when the garden stands full and green, the fruit trees finished blooming long ago, the oilseed rape in the fields has been harvested, and suddenly the flowers fall silent. No more bees, barely a bumblebee. That is the forage gap: the stretch when the big mass bloom is over and the next one has not started yet. For honeybees it means hunger; for wild bees and bumblebees it often means the end of a whole generation. And here is the good part: in your own garden you can close that gap. Not with a single miracle bed, but with a well thought out bloom calendar that never quite breaks off, from the first willows in March to the ivy in October.
This article walks you through the entire gardening year. You will learn where the gaps fall, which plants fill them reliably, and how to achieve a lot on very little space. Patience helps: a real bee garden builds itself up over two to three years, because perennials need time to establish and self-seeding takes its own course.
Understand the forage gap before you plant
"Forage" is the beekeeper's word for everything bees bring in as nectar and pollen. In spring the table is richly set: willows, fruit blossom, dandelion, oilseed rape. From late June it tips over. The meadows are mown, the linden has finished, and what remains is bare in many gardens. This summer gap of roughly CW 26 to CW 32 is the most critical, because this is exactly when colonies and wild bee populations peak and need the most food.
There is a second, smaller gap in early spring (roughly CW 6 to CW 10, early February to early March). On the first mild days bumblebee queens and early wild bees venture out, but often find nothing. Plant crocus, winter aconite and snowdrop here and you may save an entire bumblebee colony, because the queen founds it all on her own.
The bloom calendar: four stages through the year
When planning, do not think in single plants but in stages. Your goal is a relay in which at least two to three species are always open at once. Here is how it looks across the year.
Early spring and spring (CW 6 to CW 18)
Bulbs start it off: crocus, winter aconite, grape hyacinth and wild tulip. Add early flowering woody plants that deliver enormous forage: goat willow (its catkins in March are a bee magnet), cornelian cherry and later the whole fruit blossom. During this time the table is usually well set; your only job is to secure the early start.
Early summer (CW 19 to CW 25)
Now fruit, berry bushes and the first perennials bloom. Borage begins and then flowers on for months; cornflower and pot marigold get going. Wild foxglove, cranesbill and catmint start too. This is the stage where you prepare the transition into the critical gap.
Midsummer, the critical gap (CW 26 to CW 32)
Everything is decided here. Rely on species that bloom long and lavishly: lavender, viper's bugloss, oregano, thyme, sunflower and fast lacy phacelia. Add common mallow, chicory, scabious and stonecrop. If you keep a cloud of bloom going for two weeks here, you have closed the forage gap.
Late summer and autumn (CW 33 to CW 44)
When others have long since faded, in come stonecrop, autumn asters, coneflower and Japanese anemones. The crowning finale is ivy: it only flowers from September and is the last big nectar source of the year. A flowering ivy on a warm October day hums like high summer.
Three reliable gap-fillers in profile
Viper's bugloss is an insider's tip: a single plant produces so much nectar over weeks that it is mobbed by wild bees all day long. It self-seeds in lean, sunny spots and needs practically no care. It is exactly these long-distance runners that close the gap more reliably than a one-off flower mix that is spent after three weeks.
How to establish a bee garden
Assess the site honestly
Most forage plants want sun, many even lean soil. Sunny and low in nutrients is the best start; on rich garden soil the grasses smother the flowers.
Prepare the ground
For a sowing area, lift the turf or dig the ground over shallowly and rake it to a fine crumb. Do not work in compost; lean soil brings more flowers and less green.
Sow and plant in a relay
Combine a perennial wildflower mix (the base) with fast annuals like phacelia for the first year. Sow from mid April to mid May (CW 16 to CW 20); you can resow phacelia into July and thereby target the gap directly.
Press in and keep moist
Light germinators like phacelia are only pressed in, not buried. Keep the area evenly moist for the first three weeks, after which it is largely left to itself.
Mow correctly
A flowering meadow is mown only once or twice a year, in sections and never all at once. Always leave an island standing so insects and caterpillars have a refuge.
Wild bees think differently from honeybees
A common misconception: whatever helps the honeybee automatically helps them all. Not quite true. Many of Germany's roughly 600 wild bee species are specialised on particular plant families and can only use their pollen. For them, native species count for more than exotic ornamentals.
- Choose unfilled flowers
Doubled cultivars (such as densely filled dahlias or roses) have had their stamens bred into petals. They offer barely any pollen and nectar and are almost worthless to insects.
- Native before exotic
Viper's bugloss, common mallow, chicory, bellflower and mullein feed far more species than most ornamental exotics from the garden centre.
- Plan for nesting sites
Food alone is not enough. Open sandy patches, pithy stems and deadwood matter as much to many wild bees as the bloom. More on this in the piece on wild bee nesting aids and forage plants.
- Diversity over monoculture
The more different flower shapes and flowering times, the more species find the food that suits them. Go for a mixture, not a single miracle plant.
It is not one super plant that saves the bees, but the calendar without gaps.
Old beekeeper's rule
Even the smallest garden counts
You do not need a meadow. A sunny balcony box with thyme, oregano and lavender is a genuine filling station in midsummer. A pot of phacelia, resown twice, blooms from June into September. And even an unmown corner where common mallow and chicory are allowed to self-seed does more than the perfectly clipped lawn beside it. If you also want to attract butterflies, think beyond nectar plants and add caterpillar food plants too.
Think in years, not weeks. The first year the annuals carry it; from the second and third year the perennials and self-seeders take over, and the area grows richer season by season. That is exactly the charm of a bee garden: it grows along with you and your garden.
Häufige Fragen
When is the forage gap and how do I close it?
The main forage gap falls in midsummer, roughly from CW 26 to CW 32 (late June to early August). By then the mass bloom from fruit blossom, oilseed rape and linden is over. You close it with long and late flowering species such as lavender, viper's bugloss, oregano, common mallow and above all phacelia, which can be resown into July. A second, smaller gap in early spring (CW 6 to CW 10) is filled with crocus, winter aconite and goat willow.
Which plant blooms fastest for bees?
Lacy phacelia (Phacelia) is the fastest gap-filler. Only six to eight weeks pass from sowing to flower. Sow it in late May and it blooms from mid July, precisely in the critical midsummer gap. As a staggered sowing in two to three portions it covers several weeks. It is annual, not frost hardy and also works excellently as green manure.
Are doubled flowers bad for bees?
Yes, mostly. In doubled cultivars such as many dahlias, roses or ranunculus the stamens have been bred into extra petals. As a result they offer little to no pollen and often no reachable nectar either. To bees they are almost worthless. Choose instead unfilled, simple flowers where the stamens sit visibly in the centre.
Does a bee garden have to include native plants?
For honeybees less so, for wild bees very much. Many of the roughly 600 native wild bee species are specialised on particular plant families and can only use their pollen. Native species such as viper's bugloss, bellflower, common mallow and mullein therefore feed far more species than exotic ornamentals. A good bee garden mixes both, with a clear emphasis on native bloomers.
When and how often do I mow a flowering meadow?
A flowering meadow is mown only once or twice a year, far less often than a lawn. The first cut usually falls in late June to early July (around CW 26), a possible second one in September. Always mow in sections only and leave at least a third standing as a refuge island so insects, caterpillars and pupae survive. Remove the cuttings after they dry so the soil stays lean and the flowers are not crowded out by grasses.
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